February 10, 2007

Wally Wood's Thunder Agents #4 [1986]

As mentioned before, Ditko did work on the Thunder Agents for many publishers. This version was published by Deluxe Comics, and it's pretty much accepted now that they didn't actually have the legal right to do so, but the creators at the time obviously didn't know that.

"An Alien Nation" is a 10-page story by Steve Perry with art by Ditko and Greg Theakston, the second part of a NoMan story that began the previous issue. NoMan is of course the robotic member of the Agents who can transfer his identity between various bodies. In this story he's sent, with about 100 spare bodies, to attack a would-be world conqueror with the unlikely name Cyrano de Klopps, who has stolen some Thunder technology, which he's combined in a Thundersuit that one of his hapless minions wears. Fun little story in the vein of the original Agents stories, more than a little intentionally goofy, with some clever stuff involving NoMan switching bodies, and really great inking by Theakston. Well worth it for a Ditko fan to seek these issues out.